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THE ''RAW RECRUIT.' 



A RAW RECRUIT'S 



WAR EXPERIENCES 



BY 

ANSEL D, NICKERSON, 

Late Private Co. B, Eleventh Rhode Ishmd Volunteers. 



PROVIDENCE; 
PRINTED BY THE PRESS COMPANY. 

iSSS. 






FOR PRIVATE DISTRIBUTION ONLY. 



y/r6^4/ 



V9 



AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED 



%a Pg Wxit 



WHOSE PATRIOTIC SPIRIT PROMPTED 

ME TO OFFER MY SERVICES 

TO MY COUNTRY. 



• The neighing troop, the flashing blade, 

The bugle's stirring blast, 
The charge, the dreadful cannonade, 
The din and shout are past." 



APOLOGY 



This "war paper" was first read before the Rhode Island Soldiers 
and Sailors Society, in Providence, October 19, 1S86. Subsequently 
it was read at the annual winter reunion of the Eleventh Rhode 
Island Regiment (January 27, 1887), two companies of which regi- 
ment (B and F) were recruited in Pawtucket, the former commanded 
by Captain Charles W. Thrasher and Lieutenant Thomas Moies, and 
the latter by Captain Edward Taft. It has since been read several 
times before other associations and societies. The paper was not 
intended for publication, nor was it originally broken into chapters, 
and in allowing it to be published, the author permits the urgent 
requests of numerous friends to outweigh his own judgment. It does 
not assume to be a connected or detailed history of the regiment; nor 
is it the history of any one company of the regiment; nor is it the 
diary of an officer of the regiment, but simply what its title indicates, 
"A Raw Recruit's War Experiences." More is said about Com- 
pany B than of any other company in the Eleventh Regiment for 
the reason that the aforesaid "raw recruit's war experiences" were 
especially identified with that company. Being personal recollections, 



VI APOLOGY. 

and to a large extent the recital of personal incidents connected with 
the nine months' campaign of the regiment in Virginia, must be my 
apology for the frequent use of the personal pronoun I. 

As the events of which I speak occurred at a period in our country's 
history when a spade was called a spade, and among a class of men 
who could not be justly accused of ambiguity of expression, my paper 
will be found to contain more than one "strong, old-fashioned English 
word, familiar to all who read their Bibles." 

To those comrades whose war experiences were of a very different 
character from my own, and into whose hands this unpretentious little 
volume may fall, I trust that the recital of some of the ludicrous scenes 
in camp and on the march, rather than the harrowing descriptions of 
sanguinary battles, may not prove wholly unwelcome. 

A. D. N. 
Pawtucket, R. I., 

April, 1888. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 
The "Raw Recruit" enlists and goes into camp . i 

CHAPTER n. 
Off for the seat of war — The knapsacks . . ii 

CHAPTER HI. 
At Miner's Hill — First death — The "long roll" . i8 

CHAPTER IV. 
The Convalescent Camp — Scenes grave and gay . 27 

CHAPTER V. 
At "the front" — Norfolk and Suffolk ... 34 



viii CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER VI. 
Pastimes in camp — Religious services ... 40 

CHAPTER Vn. 
Baked beans — The deacon's advice — Steamed oysters . 46 

CHAPTER Vin. 
The Eleventh loses two colonels .... 51 

CHAPTER IX. 
YoRKTOWN — Home again — Mustered out • • • 57 

CHAPTER X. 
"Honor to whom honor is due" .... 61 



A Raw Recruit's War Experiences. 



Chapter I. 
During the winter preceding the firing upon Sumter, 
I was one of a group of young fellows of about my own age 
who regularly assembled evenings at the corner grocery of 
the village where we lived, to listen to older persons discuss 
the affairs of the nation and all other matters, moral, intel- 
lectual and social, as is the nightly custom in country gro- 
ceries, and particularly the probabilities of war between the 
North and the South, which, I will say in passing, every day 
grew more probable. Each several barrel-head in that gro- 
cery seemed to know its own occupant, and for any one else 
to have appropriated it to his own use, especially had he 
been a young man, would, I am sure, have been deemed an 
unpardonable breach of courtesy. The grocer himself was 
the acknowledged spokesman of the company, and never 
allowed himself to be '' switched off" from the subject in 
hand, however pressing the demands of his waiting custom- 



2 A /?AW RECRUIT'S 

ers. He did not believe there would be any war ; but in the 
event that the South should "kick in the traces," as he 
expressed it, " our boys would only have to arm themselves 
with brooms and go down there and give 'em a thrashing." 
This sweeping assertion was received with liberal applause 
by all of his hearers, the impatient customers not excepted. 

I hope I shall not detract from your favorable estimate of 
the grocer's patriotism when I add that, being a dealer in 
brooms himself, he remarked that he " would like nothing 
better than a contract to supply the government with them." 
I hardly need mention the fact that the grocer was a genu- 
ine specimen of the Yankee, and always kept an anchor to 
the windward and his eyes wide open for the main chance. 
" They all did it " — in war times. 

I only mention this incident in illustration of the opinion 
which our northern people generally had in the winter of 
'60 and '61 as to the likelihood of a war with the South, 
and their estimate as to what would be necessary to sup- 
press a rebellion against the government in that section of 
the country if, unfortunately, one should break out. 

But, as we all know, the groceryman proved a false 
prophet. When the news of the attack upon Fort Sumter 



WAR EXPERIENCES. 3 

came, it found me setting type in the " Gazette and Chron- 
icle " printing office in Pawtucket, where I had been regu- 
larly employed as apprentice and journeyman since 1846. 
*' All work and no play " had made Jack a pretty dull boy 
indeed, and the war promised a vacation, temporary or per- 
manent, which I had long been seeking, and which I at once 
made up my mind that I would avail myself of at the earliest 
possible opportunity. As the war news became more and 
more interesting, filling the paper nearly full every week to 
the exclusion of less important matters, I became more and 
more determined to give the country the benefit of my ser- 
vices. Very many of my associates had enlisted and gone 
"to the front," and I could not satisfy myself with any 
good reason for longer remaining at home when men were 
so much needed to defend the honor of the old flag and 
assist in upholding the integrity of the government in its 
day of greatest peril. In the language of that good old 
hymn, I realized that 

" I can but perish if I go," 
and said : 

" I am resolved to try." 

And I did. With what result will be seen. 



4 A RAW RECRUIT'S 

I expected to encounter opposition at home, and conse- 
quently I kept my plans to myself. A year had passed 
away, and yet I was not enrolled among the "boys in blue." 
Three hundred thousand nine months' volunteers were 
called for by President Lincoln, and proclamation was made 
that if the necessary quota from each State was not filled 
by the fifteenth of August, 1 862, a draft would be resorted 
to. I concluded to step in out of the draft. War meetings 
were held almost every night in the old Armory Hall on 
High street in Pawtucket. I was a regular attendant in the 
capacity of reporter for the newspaper upon which I was em- 
ployed. The speakers were generally men past middle life, 
whose principal business seemed to be to urge the young 
men to volunteer, and not to volunteer themselves. One 
evening, for some reason, there was a dearth of speakers, 
and after a while some one in the audience called out my 
name, and soon the call became so loud and so general that 
I was compelled to respond. I ascended the platform, and, 
as nearly as I can remember, I spoke as follows : " Young 
men, one thing has especially impressed me this evening. 
Every speaker who has preceded me has said to you, ^ Go !' 
Now, boys, I say Come f and turning to a recruiting officer 



WAI^ EXPERIENCES, 5 

who sal on my right, I said, " Put my name down !" I 
think it was the shortest speech I ever made ; at any rate, 
I know it was the best received. There seemed to be no 
bounds to the enthusiasm which was manifested, and the 
recruiting business in Pawtucket at once received a ** boom." 
After the meeting was over and congratulations were 
ended, I went home. Now began the "tug of war." The 
house was silent — very silent — and so was I. I didn't 
sleep much that night. In my wakefulness I concluded 
not to say anything to my family about what I had done, 
but leave her to learn the news from some other source. 
But this little scheme was upset very early in the morning 
by the lady of the house asking me concerning the war 
meeting of the previous evening, and the names of the 
speakers. After giving her such general information as I 
possessed, I hesitatingly informed her that she had had the 
honor of entertaining one of the speakers over night. 
Woman like, she then wanted to know if anybody enlisted. 
Things were getting pretty close home now. The ice must 
be broken. I told her that several persons enlisted, and 
gave her the names of some of them ; and, after a mo- 
ment's hesitation, I said, "I don't know what you will 



6 A I^AW RECRUIT'S 

think, or say, when I tell you that I was one of them, and 
that I am going to the war." Judge of my surprise, and of 
my own depreciated estimate of what I had previously con- 
sidered my great patriotism, when she exclaimed, '' Well, 
all I have got to say is, that if I had been a man, I should 
have gone long ago'' The ice was pretty effectually broken 
now, and what I feared might prove a council of war, was 
turned into a council of peace. That speech settled the 
whole business for me, and I was ready, yea, anxious, to 
shoulder my musket and go " to the front " immediately ; 
in fact, I wished I had gone before. Woman's work in the 
war ! I fear it has not been fully appreciated or justly 
acknowledged. The patriotism, the heroism and the sac- 
rifice were not confined to the soldiers. They knew little 
of the inexpressible longings, the fears, the prayers, the 
yearning hopes, the terrible suspense, of those at home 
who loved them. What pen can truthfully describe the 
weary watching and waiting of the wives and mothers, the 
daughters and sisters, during those long four years of fire 
and blood } God bless them, one and all ! 

Several weeks elapsed between the time of enlistment 
and going into camp. At last we were ordered to report on 



WAR EXPERIENCES. 7 

Dexter Training Ground, in Providence, the name of the 
camp being '^ Camp Stevens," in honor of Major General 
Isaac Ingalls Stevens, who v^as killed September ist, 1862, 
in the battle of Chantilly, Virginia, while leading his di- 
vision in a charge. To very many of the members of the 
regiment, their first military experience began on Camp 
Stevens, and truthfulness to history compels me to add that 
with no small number of the enlisted men it ended there, 
they being unable to "pass muster," or, in other words, 
to endure the severe ordeal to which they were subjected 
by the chief mustering officer. Captain WiUiam Silvey, of 
the regular army. I had entertained fears from the start 
that I would be ''thrown out" on account of a supposed 
pulmonary difficulty. I ''braced up" as best I could for 
the examination. Captain Silvey looked me squarely in the 
face as I stood in line, and placing one of his hands upon 
my breast, he struck with the other a blow which seemed 
hard enough to fell an ox, and then remarked "All right !" 
I could not have been made more happy than I was by his 
decision if he had knocked me down. He settled one thing 
at any rate which had long been a disputed question in our 
family, namely, that my breathing apparatus was "all right." 



8 A I^AIV RECRUIT'S 

After the examinations were concluded, the "lucky ones" 
were sworn in and marched down to the quartermaster's 
department to receive their equipments. The "pride, 
pomp and circumstance of glorious war" had never pos- 
sessed any great charm for me. I had belonged to an engine 
company and a Sunday-school, but never to a military com- 
pany ; in fact, until I went on to Camp Stevens I do not 
remember ever to have had a musket in my hand. This 
will serve to explain why, when all of the members of my 
company had been supplied with arms, the officer in com- 
mand called attention to the fact that I had my gun wrong 
side before, my hand grasping the lock or hammer instead 
of the "guard." The suggestion that I should join the 
"awkward squad" was sufficiently exasperating to have 
almost induced me to throw up my commission. 

But a still further humiliation was in store for me. At 
our first drill in the manual of arms, among the other orders 
given was, " ram cartridge," when the officer in charge dis- 
covered that I had inserted the wrong end of the ramrod 
into the muzzle of the gun, I having found the hollow space 
in the large end very convenient in which to insert the ball 
of my little finger in sending the imaginary cartridge to its 



WAJi EXPERIENCES. 9 

destination. Fortunately for me, no further opportunities 
for demonstrating my fitness for promotion in the "awkward 
squad " were furnished me, and my leisure hours were spent 
in acquiring proficiency in drill. How well I succeeded 
will appear. 

While we were on Camp Stevens we had a great many 
visitors. Among those whom I shall ever remember was 
that ''grand, square and upright" citizen of Pawtucket, 
Charley Chickering. It so happened that the day he visited 
us, I was performing guard duty around the camp. I no- 
ticed that my portly friend, as he paraded up and down the 
sidewalk opposite me, seemed deeply interested in my 
movements. Presently he came across the street and walked 
alongside of me awhile as I paced my beat back and forth. 
He was silent. So was I. But at length that ominous 
chuckle of his began to be heard, or perhaps I should say 
a series of chuckles, which all who are acquainted with him 
so well know always precedes his quaint and original utter- 
ances. I fancied that my martial air and my dexterity in 
handling my musket, although I knew it did bob around 
considerably when carried at "support," or perpendicu- 
larly, was to evoke from my old friend and schoolmate a 



lO WAR EXPERIENCES. 

compliment. But judge of my surprise when instead he 
opened upon me as follows, his every word being punctuated 
with one of those peculiar chuckles to which I have referred : 
" Nickerson, — I — admire — your — patriotism, — but — I — 
swear — I — can't — compliment — you — on — your — soldier- 
ly — bearing." 

I confess that I experienced considerable difficulty in 
learning to keep step, but, like the raw Irish recruit, I 
stoutly maintained that the trouble was with " the other 
b'ys ; they wouldn't kape step wid me." 



Chapter II. 

It was on the afternoon of the sixth of October, 1862, 
when we kissed our wives and sweethearts, and 

" With our guns upon our shoulders, 
And our bayonets by our sides," 

left Camp Stevens for the seat of war. We were in any- 
thing but Hght marching order when we broke camp. To 
this day the remembrance of those back-breaking knapsacks 
makes me weary. Feminine ingenuity seemingly exhausted 
itself in conjuring up all sorts of things, describable and in- 
describable, that could make life a burden to a "raw recruit," 
a wheelbarrow being needed for their transportation. But 
the size of those knapsacks grew '' beautifully less " shortly 
after leaving home, a blanket and overcoat being all that 
were absolutely needed in active service, and often one of 
these proved a burden rather than a necessity. In addition 
to clothing enough to have overstocked one of the numerous 
Palestine merchants on Chatham street, in New York, 
there were, among other things, family Bibles, pocket Testa- 



12 A I^AW RECRUIT'S 

merits, prayer-books and dictionaries, Pilgrim's Progress, 
Old Farmer's Almanac, photograph and autograph albums, 
ambrotypes and daguerreotypes, diaries, razors, mirrors of 
various sizes, boxes of blacking, button-hooks, collars and 
cuffs, corkscrews, tooth powder, brushes for the hair, teeth 
and boots, whisk brooms, clothing and hat brushes, combs, 
shaving utensils, slippers, clothes-wringers, frying-pans and 
patent coffee-pots, soap, towels, napkins, pins, needles and 
thread, buttons of various dimensions, boots and shoes, both 
thick and thin, hair oil and pomade, matches, pipes, tobacco, 
plug and fine cut, rolls of linen bandages and bundles of 
lint. Pain Killer, Jamaica gjnger, Seidlitz powders, pills, 
cayenne pepper, and almost everything else but umbrellas. 
Then there were the equipments provided by the govern- 
ment, — haversack, canteen, cartridge box and sixty rounds 
of cartridges, not to mention the musket, — until our appear- 
ance resembled the pictures of the dromedaries crossing the 
Great Desert which I saw in the geography in my school 
days. When we embarked on the cars at Olney ville, bound 
for New York, and unslung those corpulent knapsacks, the 
sense of relief which we experienced was, I fancy, some- 
what akin to that felt by Bunyan's pilgrim when he dropped 



WAJ? EXPERIENCES. 1 3 

his burden. Indeed, it seemed like getting out from under 
a haystack or a mountain. 

From New York to Washington our trip possessed no 
features uncommon to other regiments. From Philadelphia 
to the National Capital we were transported in freight cars, 
a new experience to all of us, but one to which we became 
accustomed before we saw Rhode Island again. It was at 
Perryville, Maryland, that we had our first glimpse of the 
devastation wrought by war. Here the extensive bridge 
across the Susquehanna had been burned by the enemy, 
and we were transferred in detachments across the river to 
Havre de Grace in a small steamer. We arrived in Wash- 
ington about ten o'clock on one of the most beautiful moon- 
light nights I ever saw. Our arrival was expected by some 
of our friends who had enlisted earlier than ourselves, and 
they were at the railroad station to welcome us. 

Immediately upon landing from the cars we were marched 
to the " Soldiers' Retreat " for refreshments. No soldier 
who has frequented that place needs to be told that we beat 
a hasty retreat therefrom. I am very confident that the 
most of the men would gladly have taken the next train 
back to Rhode Island, if the matter of return tickets had 



14 A RAW RECRUIT'S 

not been entirely overlooked by the master of transporta- 
tion. 

How marked the contrast between our reception in Wash- 
ington and in Philadelphia ! Even to this day pleasant 
memories remain of the hospitahty dispensed to our regi- 
ment by the patriotic ladies of the "City of Brotherly 
Love," at the famous '* Cooper Shop Volunteer Refreshment 
Saloon," a hospitality which was extended to all of the 
**boys in blue" who passed through Philadelphia on their 
way to the National Capital. 

Fancy our feelings when we were informed that our first 
night in Washington must be spent in this same unsavory 
** Soldiers' Retreat." Acting upon the maxim that "what 
cannot be cured must be endured," and in unquestioned 
obedience to orders, we spread our blankets upon the hard, 
dirty floor, and taking our huge knapsacks for pillows we 
wrapped our mantles (poetry for army overcoats) about us 
and laid down to pleasant dreams of home, and feather 
beds, and hair mattresses, and other comforts and luxuries 
to which we had been so long accustomed as to have wholly 
failed to appreciate them at their proper value. Truly in 
our case, distance lent enchantment. But to come down 



wajr experiences. 15 

to solid, matter-of-fact prose, we didn't sleep much that 
night anyway. Whether it was the effects of the heat of 
the preceding day when we were marching through Balti- 
more at a ** double quick," with those burdensome knap- 
sacks breaking our backs, or whether it was the souvenirs 
left by our comrades-in-arms who had occupied that same 
floor the previous night, I cannot positively affirm, but this 
one thing I know, that we scratched out a miserable exist- 
ence until morning, when, after declining without thanks 
to regale ourselves with the so-called coffee which was fur- 
nished us, which our boys affirmed was poor water spoilt, 
and the turning of the cold shoulder upon the salt junk 
which was so temptingly spread before us, we cheerfully 
obeyed the order of our Colonel to "fall in," and were soon 
wending our way to East Capitol hill, near the east branch 
of the Potomac, where, our tents not having arrived, we 
encamped in the open air, which was far preferable to spend- 
ing a second night at the "Soldiers' Retreat." The soil 
where we encamped was of a clayey nature, and the surface 
as free from moisture as polishing powder, and when we 
awoke on the following morning we had very much the 
appearance of having slept in an ash-pit. 



1 6 A RAW RECRUIT'S 

We remained here but a day or two, when we received 
orders to join General Casey's Division, and bidding adieu 
without regrets to " Camp Misery," as our boys had named 
the spot, we were soon on our way across Chain Bridge, and 
in due season found ourselves on the '* sacred soil" of 
Virginia. 

I can never forget a laughable scene which was enacted 
on Pennsylvania avenue by Company B while on this march. 
We were on the extreme left of the line. In front of a 
tonsorial saloon on the avenue our boys espied a Dutchman 
who formerly carried on business in Pawtucket. The sur- 
prise at the unexpected meeting was mutual on the part 
of the barber and the boys. It was his habit when a cus- 
tomer entered his shop to inquire as to whether he preferred 
the water hot or cold, but for any one to repeat the question 
in his presence, whether on the street or elsewhere, was 
sure to stir up the barber's ire. Immediately upon seeing 
him standing in front of his shop, our boys began to sing 
out, " Vater hot, or vater cold T ' The old Dutchman became 
terribly excited, and the result was that that portion of the 
procession which was composed of Company B became sadly 
demoralized. As soon as our officers took in the situation, 



WAI^ EXPERIENCES. 1/ 

order was at once restored, and a few minutes of "double 
quick" enabled us to regain our position in line. But no 
sooner had this been done than we saw coming directly 
toward us, down the avenue, a regiment which had the 
appearance of having just come from *' the front." It was 
a new and strange sight to us, those '' battle-scarred vete- 
rans " of the war, and we made up our minds that the right 
thing for us to do was to tender them a reception. With- 
out any orders from our officers, and without even their 
knowledge, we immediately came to " company front" and 
presented arms, to the great amusement and evident aston- 
ishment of those old soldiers. This action on our part 
caused us to receive a well-merited reprimand from our 
officers, and it was the first and only performance of the 
kind in which Company B bore a conspicuous part. 

2 



Chapter III. 

Of the movements of the Eleventh regiment while in 
Virginia, I will not weary you with a rehearsal in detail. 
Our first regular camp was established on Miner's Hill, the 
extreme outer part of the defenses of Washington, and 
when we reached it on a cold, raw, blustering day late in 
the fall of 1862, the wind filKng our eyes and mouths with 
a blinding and grinding dust, it was the most dismal and 
dreary-looking place that I ever saw — with the single 
exception of Seekonk Plains. We remained here about 
three months, building and stockading our winter quarters, 
drilling and doing picket duty, and making occasional raids 
when we felt sure that the enemy was a safe distance from 
us. We were in General Robert Cowdin's brigade, which 
comprised, in addition to our own regiment, the Fortieth 
Massachusetts, the Twenty-second Connecticut, the One 
Hundred and Forty-first New York, and the Sixteenth 
Virginia Battery. 

Company B had a fund of one thousand dollars which 
was raised by the patriotic citizens of Pawtucket and Cen- 



WAI? EXPERIENCES. 1 9 

tral Falls for the purpose of enabling the officers to procure 
for the members of the company, among other things, 
some articles for the table when we were in camp which 
were not to be found on the government "bill of fare." 
In consequence of this " company fund" we had a greater 
share of " extras " than any other company in the regiment 
while we were encamped in the vicinity of Washington. 
Among those "extras" were milk for our coffee and tea 
(fresh when it could be obtained, and condensed at other 
times) ; writing paper, envelopes and stamps ; a copy of 
the Washington "Daily Chronicle" for each mess, and a 
weekly pictorial paper; blacking, oil, sand paper, emery 
paper, polishing powder, soap, matches, green apples, tal- 
low candles and other delicacies of the season. The extra 
candles were used on special occasions, such as the recep- 
tion of friends from home, and so forth. Naturally enough 
the members of the other companies looked upon us at 
times with envious eyes. The historian of the regiment 
writes thus of Company B : " Their company fund was 
large, their friends with money many, and their visitors, 
who always remembered them handsomely, numerous." 
We did, indeed, have quite a number of visitors from 



20 A JiAlV RECRUIT'S 

home while we were encamped near Washington, and I 
can assure you that their visits were always occasions 
of great pleasure to us. Later they became like angels' 
visits, "few and far between." 

The first death in our company occurred at Miner's Hill, 
and the funeral ceremonies were deeply impressive. The 
ambulance containing the remains of our dead comrade 
was preceded by an escort composed of the non-commis- 
sioned staff of the regiment, (the deceased having held the 
position of regimental hospital steward,) and sixteen men 
of Company B, in command of the first sergeant, accom- 
panied by the drum corps. The officers and men of Com- 
pany B followed in the rear of the procession. Arriving 
on the parade ground, the coffin was taken from the ambu- 
lance and placed on a stretcher, when appropriate services 
were performed by the chaplain, consisting of prayer, the 
reading of scripture, and brief remarks, after which three 
volleys were fired and the remains of Jacob S. Pervear, Jr., 
were replaced in the ambulance to be conveyed to Washing- 
ton and thence to the home of the deceased in Pawtucket. 
In the course of his remarks, the chaplain used the fol- 
lowing very appropriate poetical quotation : 



WAR EXPERIENCES. 21 

"Ye number it in days since he 

Strode up the foot-worn aisle, 
With his dark eye flashing gloriously, 

And his lip wreathed with a smile; 
Oh, had it been but told you then 

To mark whose lamp was dim. 
From out those ranks of fresh-lipped men, 

Would ye have singled him? 

******* 
"His heart, in generous deed and thought, 
No rivalry might brook, 
And yet, distinction claiming not. 
There lies he — go and look." 

The occasion was of a very mournful character, and it 
was not without effect upon some of the hardest men in 
the regiment, for young Pervear was greatly beloved by all. 

One Sunday, when instead of going to church I was 
doing picket duty on the line of the Norfolk and Peters- 
burg railroad, I halted an old man who was riding along in 
a dilapidated two-wheeled vehicle, to which was attached a 
still more dilapidated horned beast which, apparently, from 
time immemorial had served for its owner all the require- 
ments of a horse. In answer to my inquiry whether he was 



22 A jRAW RECRUIT'S 

a Union man, the old fellow gave me the following reply : 
" Stranger, I was born in the Union ; I have always lived 
in the Union ; I have always loved the old Union, and I 
love her still ; I have always voted for the old Union ; and, 
stranger, when I die, whether I go to heaven or hell, I shall 
stick by the old Union !" All doubts as to his loyalty hav- 
ing been dispelled, I grasped him warmly by the hand, and, 
whispering in his ear, said, " Old man, stick /" 

Perhaps I should have stated ere this that in addition to 
my duties as a soldier, I combined those of a " war corres- 
pondent." My letters were generally written in the even- 
ing in my tent, lying prone upon my face, the light being 
furnished by a dripping tallow candle which was stuck into 
the top of a bayonet whose point was inserted in the 
earth. Here, under such circumstances, I criticised the 
conduct of the war, and directed campaigns as best I could. 
I mention this fact at this time because the incident just 
related has already appeared in print. 

An incident which has not appeared in print, but which 
made a deep impression upon the ''family men" of the 
regiment, occurred on a beautiful Sunday afternoon while 
on dress parade at Miner's Hill. General Robert Cowdin, 



JVAI? EXPERIENCES. 23 

the brigade commander, was frequently an interested 
observer on these occasions. At the time to which I refer, 
he was accompanied by a lady friend from Washington, 
who held by the hand a beautiful little boy of four or five 
years of age. The sight of the little fellow, particularly 
when he let go his mother's hand and ran about and shouted 
in his childish glee, so affected the men that it was almost 
impossible to preserve a steady line and secure prompt 
obedience to orders. Men whom I had seldom or never 
before seen exhibit any emotion were moved to tears by 
the sight and the remembrance of dear ones at home, and 
many of them were heard to say that they would willingly 
part with a month's pay just to take the little fellow in 
their arms for a moment, while a Pawtucket man, who 
had a wife but no children, said he would give all his bounty 
money and throw the "cow" in, just to kiss the little fel- 
low's mother — for his wifes sake. The order to "march 
off your companies" cut short other equally complimentary 
expressions concerning the mother and her darling boy. 

One of the most ludicrous events which occurred in our 
regiment was on a very dark night when the *' long roll " 
sounded for the first time. We were at once ordered 



24 A BAJV /RECRUIT'S 

under arms, it being whispered among the " knowing ones " 
that we were likely to have a brush with the enemy before 
daylight, while the officers knew it was only to " break in " 
the men, to see how they would behave in the time of actual 
service. There was a hurrying to and fro of officers of all 
grades ; signal lights were swung here and there in response 
to similar signals which could be seen quite a distance 
away ; the surgeons were overhauling and sharpening their 
instruments and filing their saws and getting out large 
quantities of lint and bandages ; all orders were given in 
a whisper, and everything betokened speedy and decisive 
action, the time having come for our men to cover them- 
selves with glory — or shame. 

In Company B there was an Irishman named Mike Cas- 
sidy. He was an old man, and when he got into line it 
was evident that he was sleeping soundly when the order 
fell upon his ears to '* turn out," and that he had not been 
able in the darkness to find his entire wardrobe, or if he 
found it, that he did not have time to get properly inside 
of it. But he had his old and trusty musket, with which 
he had often declared he could alone whip the whole South- 
ern Confederacy if they would only give him time. Time 



WAR EXPERIENCES, 2$ 

was what Mike most needed. He always had time enough, 
but it was "behind time," save when the order was given 
to "fall in for rations." But it happened on that particular 
night some member of his ''mess" whose musket was 
without a tube or nipple upon which to put a cap, had appro- 
priated Cassidy's to his own use. I seem now to see Cas- 
sidy as he appeared in line on that dark night trying to 
put a percussion cap on that nippleless gun. Comrade, did 
you ever swear ? Do you think you ever heard anybody 
swear ? You should have heard Cassidy. He swore ven- 
geance upon all of his comrades, and declared that if he 
was killed, his ghost would forever haunt the man who 
stole the nipple from his gun. '' Here I am," he exclaimed, 
''with no nipple on me gun, and the whole dommed Con- 
federacy right on us !" 

In the midst of all the excitement which he occasioned 
by his vociferous tones and profane explosives, the order 
came to "break ranks," and poor Cassidy was the laugh- 
ing-stock of the whole company. I believe he forgave the 
rank and file for what he termed the "sell," but he said 
he would never forgive the officers — and I am confident 
that he never did. 



26 WAR EXPERIENCES. 

A large number of the members of the Eleventh regi- 
ment reenlisted upon the expiration of their term of service. 
Cassidy was, I think, among them. But be that as it may, 
a very funny story is told about his trying to get a pension 
on account of some real or fancied injury received while 
in an engagement. The chief of the board of examiners 
asked him where he was wounded. Mike placed his hand 
on his left breast and said, ''About here, sor." The exam- 
iner exclaimed : '' Why, man, if you had been hit there you 
would have been killed on the spot, for the bullet would 
have gone right through your heart !" 

''I know it, sor," replied Cassidy, "but, bejabers, me 
heart was in me mouth." 



Chapter IV. 

All were in high glee and the mythical goose occupied 
an elevated position when we "broke camp" and left 
Miner's Hill. The intelligent contraband who used to 
visit us every morning to dispose of his " baked fried pies " 
was promptly on hand to collect the small sums from the 
boys which still remained unpaid ; and after the line had 
begun to move, another darkey, who had been doing the 
washing for a large number of persons connected with the 
regiment, and one of whose customers — presumably an 
officer — had failed to meet his obligations, kept up with 
the regiment for a mile or more, running along the line 
from one company to the other, peering into the faces of 
all, and shouting at the top of his voice, " Some geniman 
here owes me free cents T The only satisfaction he got 
was that he would be paid when "the cruel war was over." 

The Eleventh regiment saw but little service in the field. 
Our regimental colors bear the names of no battles in which 
we were engaged, although we took part in several very 
lively skirmishes, and for an entire day stood in line in a 



28 A RAW RECRUIT'S 

broiling sun, expecting every moment to be ordered to 
take part in a fight which was going on directly in front of 
us, across the river at Suffolk, Virginia. The roar of the 
artillery and the rattle of the musketry saluted our ears 
from morning until night ; the ambulances passed by us 
all day long with the wounded and the dying, and some of 
our men who were on guard at the hospitals, which com- 
prised the churches, rendered assistance as nurses. As 
matters turned, however, the rebels retreating, the services 
of our regiment were not required. But had they been, 
there is no reason to doubt that the Eleventh would have 
acquitted itself in such a manner as to have done honor to 
the State which sent it into the field. One who knew the 
Eleventh regiment well, writes as follows concerning it : 
'* I feel warranted in saying, without fear of contradiction, 
that no State sent into the service during the war, any, 
better regiment, in everything that goes to make a good 
regiment, than this nine months' regiment ; and I do not 
hesitate to say here and everywhere, that in the character 
of the enlisted men, in the fidelity with which they per- 
formed every duty, disagreeable as well as agreeable, it 
had no superior." 



WAR EXPERIENCES. 29 

But while little opportunity was given the Eleventh 
regiment to acquire distinction in the field, yet it performed 
a service which, while bringing no renown to the regiment, 
was as important as it was disagreeable, and which sub- 
jected not only the men but the officers to very many 
unpleasant experiences. I now refer to the arduous duty 
which the regiment performed at the Convalescent Camp, 
midway between Washington and Alexandria. Here we 
found between ten thousand and fifteen thousand old sol- 
diers who had been discharged from the hospitals in and 
around Washington, waiting to be sent home or back to 
their regiments. Long lines of ambulances went back 
and forth every day between the camp and Washington, 
carrying those to whom transportation to their homes or 
regiments had been furnished, and bringing from the hos- 
pitals others to take their vacant places. The camp was 
in a very filthy condition when we arrived there, and the 
men greatly demoralized. Of course our appearance as a 
guard over these old soldiers was anything but welcome, 
and they were not slow in acquainting us with the fact. 
For a time it seemed as if only the most extreme measures 
on our part would prevent such insubordination as we 



30 A RAW RECRUIT'S 

should be unable to control. Our duties were not only- 
very disagreeable, but they were performed at that season 
of the year when mud was for the most part of the time 
nearly knee-deep, and frozen feet were no novelty. 

Here, day by day, our eyes witnessed the terrible effects 
of war upon human life. Men who had been wounded in 
battle and were recovering from their injuries were hobbling 
about on canes and crutches, while wounded arms were 
supported by various ingenious devices. Some had lost a 
leg, some both legs, some an arm, and some both arms. 
Others had an eye gone, an ear torn off, a jaw which had 
been crushed into fragments. The wounds were of every 
conceivable sort, and in every part of the body, from the 
crown of the head to the sole of the foot. They had been 
shot in the head, in the face, in the neck, in the shoulders, 
the arms, the legs, and the feet. They had been shot 
through the chest, through the lungs, through the hips and 
through the thighs. While here and there, gathered in 
small groups, were victims of disease contracted in camp 
or on the march, whose looks plainly indicated that they 
realized that there was but a step between them and death. 
In recalling these scenes even at this late day, my heart 



WAR EXPERIENCES. 3 1 

sickens as those pale faces and gaunt forms again rise up 
before me, and I thank God that "the cruel war is over." 
An entire paper might be written of the experiences 
— grave and gay — at Convalescent Camp. For the most 
part of the three winter months that we were there, the 
time passed away very slowly, and all were anxious for a 
change. Before we left, the external appearance of the 
camp had been greatly improved, and the convalescents 
generally had become reconciled to our presence among 
them, and less inclined to **run the guard" than at first, 
a few object lessons as to the sure results of such doings 
on their part causing them to regard " discretion as the 
better part of valor." However, candor compels me to 
say that when we left for Suffolk, no regrets at our 
departure were expressed by the convalescents, and as we 
passed through the camp on our way to take the cars for 
Alexandria, their taunts and jeers came near provoking an 
unpleasant collision, which, however, was happily averted 
by the coolness and firmness of our officers. Whatever 
else concerning the war an Eleventh Rhode Island man 
may forget, you can be sure that it will not be his unpleas- 
ant personal experiences at the Convalescent Camp. 



32 A RAW RECRUIT'S 

Permit me to relate an incident that occurred there in 
which I bore a conspicuous part, and which has afforded 
me much more amusement since than it did at the time. 

As I have already remarked, while we were on duty at 
the Convalescent Camp, time hung heavily upon our hands, 
and quite a number of the members of the regiment who 
had "influential friends " in Washington obtained furloughs 
to visit home. Among those who sought the autograph of 
Drake DeKay, by whom all furloughs were signed, and 
whose signature looked as if it was written with his thumb 
about a month after a buzz-saw had got its work in on the 
first joint, was the ''raw recruit" of Company B. Others 
received their furloughs, but mine tarried. I began to fear 
that my " influential friends " had " got left" — at home. One 
afternoon, as I was sitting in my tent ruminating as to how 
I would surprise my friends by coming home unexpectedly, 
particularly my family, and as to how I would spend my 
time while there, an orderly from the colonel's headquar- 
ters came to our first sergeant and told him that the 
colonel wanted him to send a man there immediately. 
Our first sergeant knowing that I expected a furlough, 
and being willing to have a little fun at my expense, told 



WAR EXPERIENCES. 33 

me that the colonel wished to see me at once. Getting 
myself together in the best style I could at such short 
notice, and expecting to receive my furlough and start for 
home by the evening train, I speedily reported myself at 
the colonel's quarters. Judge of my great surprise when, 
instead of the colonel stepping to the door of his tent 
with the coveted furlough in his hand, and politely request- 
ing me to accept it with his compliments, and wishing me 
a pleasant visit home and a safe return, the aforesaid 
orderly informed me that the colonel wished me to go to 
the blacksmith's and keep the flies off his horse while he 
was being shod. I obeyed orders as a matter of course, 
the flies were kept off, the horse was eventually shod, my 
furlough never came, and my ways of spending it at home 
were never realized. Such are the fortunes of war. The 
private soldier proposes, and the officer opposes — that is, 
as a general thing. 



Chapter V. 

"Jumping from the frying-pan into the fire," the most of 
us thought when we reached Alexandria, after leaving the 
Convalescent Camp, and found that we were to be furnished 
with transportation to Norfolk on the old steamer "Hero," 
which, as the " Argo," ran between Providence and Rocky- 
Point long "befo' de wah," We thought our accommoda- 
tions could never be worse than they were when we landed 
at the " Soldiers' Retreat " in Washington, but had a rivalry 
existed between the two concerns, the " Hero " would have 
most effectually distanced its competitor. It seemed, 
indeed, as if extra pains had been taken by somebody to 
make our condition as uncomfortable and unsatisfactory as 
possible. A cold rainstorm was prevailing when we went 
on board the steamer. There were no sleeping accommo- 
dations whatever for the men, and even the floor of the 
cabin which the officers occupied was covered with sheets 
of boiler-iron, strewn helter-skelter here, there and every- 
where. The decks, where the men were huddled together 
like sheep, were covered with mud and water several inches 



WAR EXPERIENCES. 35 

deep, our clothing was damp, the air foul, and everything 
about as disagreeable as it could well be. If we had been 
left in the starch over night we could not have been more 
stiff the next morning than we were. Yet few complaints 
were heard, the men generally preferring almost anything 
to longer remaining to guard sick and disabled soldiers, 
especially where our room was better than our company. 

In course of time — that is, very slow time — Norfolk 
was reached, and when transportation could be obtained we 
piled into freight cars and were soon on our way through 
the famous Dismal Swamp to Suffolk. Here we found the 
Fourth regiment, and the reception which the boys gave us 
was next to getting back to Rhode Island itself. I will not 
attempt to speak in detail of what was done at Suffolk by 
our regiment. It was the pleasantest place which we vis- 
ited while we were away from home, and the service being 
more active than any which we had previously performed, 
it was more congenial and satisfactory to the men. Our 
camp was delightfully located, and the occasional sharp 
skirmishes which we had with the rebels, who were just 
across the Nansemond river, together with numerous expe- 
ditions to the Blackwater and thereabouts, served to keep 



36 A RAW RECRUIT'S 

the regiment in good condition and remove all apprehen- 
sions of demoralization because of inactivity. 

There were a large number of Union troops at Suffolk 
before our arrival. The weather soon became very hot, 
and previous to their departure the deaths were numerous. 
Daily the solemn processions wended their way to the 
populous city of the dead. The funerals usually took 
place in the morning just before sunrise, or at night 
just after sunset. I seem now to hear the dirges played 
by the bands, and the volleys fired by the soldiers over 
the graves of their dead comrades. 

Upon my return home, I learned that among those in 
the rebel army while I was at Suffolk was a young man who 
learned his trade with me in the " Chronicle " office in 
Pawtucket, and who went to Alabama several years before 
the **late unpleasantness." At the close of the war he 
returned to the North and again became a loyal citizen. 

On one of the expeditions to which I have referred, the 
Eleventh regiment marched to the extreme front, three 
miles from Blackwater bridge, throwing out Company F as 
pickets one mile in advance, who were soon engaged by the 
enemy, and a brisk skirmish ensued which lasted until dark, 



WAB EXPERIENCES. 37 

when hostilities ceased for that day. On the following 
afternoon, while three of the companies of the regiment 
were picketing the front, they were attacked in a spirited 
manner by six companies of a Mississippi regiment de- 
ployed as skirmishers. Company B was sent forward as 
a support, but soon deployed as skirmishers. The firing 
continued several hours, the enemy being steadily driven 
back, leaving their dead on the field. Several prisoners 
were captured. Obeying orders to fall back to Windsor, 
the picket companies acted as rear guard. On this expe- 
dition the regiment was absent from Suffolk eleven days, 
and was attached to the division under command of Gen- 
eral Corcoran. This was the nearest approach to a hand- 
to-hand encounter with the enemy that the regiment had 
during its term of service, and the two Pawtucket companies 
occupied the most exposed and conspicuous positions. 

It was at this time that Lieutenant Thomas Moies came 
near being shot by a man who belonged to one of the com- 
panies of the Eleventh which were in the rear of Company 
B. The affair to which I refer occurred just in the edge 
of the woods, between daylight and dark. Lieutenant 
Moies, with an old straw hat on his head, and in advance 



38 A RAW RECRUIT'S 

of his men, was cautiously crawling along on his hands and 
knees in the underbrush up to the enemy's line. Having 
satisfied himself that the enemy waa falling back, he rose 
up, and a member of Company C observing his hat mistook 
it for the head-gear of one of the rebels, as their uniform 
always lacked uniformity, and immediately fired. Fortu- 
nately for Lieutenant Moies, and to the great joy of the 
entire regiment, the man who fired failed to obey the stereo- 
typed order to " fire low," and the misdirected bullet went 
over the head of our esteemed lieutenant, and his valuable 
life was spared. 

Since this paper was prepared, Lieutenant Moies has 
been ''mustered out." I knew him well as a neighbor and 
as a soldier. Together we slept on the field with the same 
starry canopy for our covering, and together on the weary 
march we shared the scanty contents of the same haver- 
sack and drank from the same canteen. For him, ''war's 
glorious art" had no allurements. He loved his quiet 
home and the peaceful pursuits of life, and when he gave 
himself to the service of his country it was because, being 
a true patriot, he felt that its claims upon him were greater 
than those of family and friends. 



WAR EXPERIENCES, 39 

"Wife, children and neighbor, 
May mourn at his knell ; 
He was lover and friend 
Of his country as well." 

His rank in the service, when measured by the army- 
standard, was a subordinate one, but had his shoulders been 
covered with eagles or stars, he could not have been other 
than the same quiet, unassuming citizen-soldier that he 
was, winning by his modest demeanor, sterling integrity, 
and kindliness of heart, the esteem of his brother officers, 
and the love and affection of his men. I know whereof I 
speak, when I say that no officer who went from Rhode 
Island was more respected and beloved by his command 
than was Lieutenant Thomas Moies, and by none is his 
death more sincerely mourned than by those who served 
under him in Virginia in 1862-3. Such was the man — 
such was the soldier. 



Chapter VI. 

Elsewhere I have spoken of an " unconditional surren- 
der " Union man whom I overhauled while on picket duty 
on the Norfolk and Petersburg railroad. All southern 
men — and women, too, as to that matter — were not so 
loyal as that old man was, as is shown by the following 
incident which occurred on the mornins: of our arrival in 
Suffolk. While marching down the principal street we 
were halted for a few minutes. Immediately all the door- 
steps of the houses were appropriated by our men to their 
own use. My doorstep belonged to a house which had all 
the appearance of being occupied by one of the '' first fami- 
lies." Presently a well dressed, intelligent looking, elderly 
lady appeared at the door and inquired what regiment ours 
was. Before time was given me to reply, a comrade who 
was sharing the step with me, said, " One Hundred and 
Eleventh Rhode Island !" She then asked, *' Is that in 
North Carolina .-*" To assist her in locating '' Little Rhody," 
I remarked that Massachusetts was its nearest neighbor, 
presuming that all southerners knew where the "bottled 



WAI^ EXPERIENCES. 4 1 

up " hero of Dutch Gap belonged when at home. Having 
straightened out her geography, which seemed considerably 
mixed, she then wanted to know what we came out there 
for, I told her we came to fight for the Union. With 
considerable fire in her eye, and vinegar in her tone, she 
replied, '^ They tell me you've come down here to fight for 
the nasty niggers ; and if I were a man, I would resist to 
the death before / would do such a thing !" Here the con- 
versation was suddenly interrupted by the order to '' fall in," 
and I left the old lady soliloquizing upon the causes which 
led to the war, and its probable result to both North and 
South. Whether she had confounded Rhode Island with 
Roanoke Island by reason of the similarity of names, or 
whether our sudden appearance in front of her residence 
had caused her to lose her reckoning generally, I am not 
sure. Possibly she was not up in geography. 

We had our pastimes when in camp. While we were 
at Suffolk it was not an uncommon thing just after supper 
to see the men of Companies I and K (commonly known 
as the Young Men's Christian Association companies) 
holding prayer-meetings in the open air and singing revival 
melodies at the ends of their streets, while the men of the 



42 A RAW RECRUIT'S 

Other companies, at the ends of their streets, would be 
dancing to the music of a violin or banjo, or singing songs 
of a less spiritual character than those of the Y. M. C. A. 
companies, all having a good time in their way, and neither 
infringing nor trespassing upon the rights of the others, 
although some of the men in the regiment, I feel com- 
pelled to say, were not the embodiment of all the Chris- 
tian virtues. 

While we were in winter quarters on Miner's Hill, the 
religiously inclined men of the regiment erected a log 
chapel in which to hold services in the evening and on Sun- 
days. No church bell summoned them to worship, but a 
few taps of the drum or a few notes from the bugle, or, 
better still, the singing of some old, familiar hymn learned 
in boyhood in New England homes, served as a " church 
call," and from every part of the camp the men came to 
reverently worship the God of battles. I like good church 
music, but beHeve me when I say that I would not exchange 
the memory of one of those grand old hymns which "the 
boys" used to sing with "the spirit, and the understand- 
ing also," at their meetings in that old log chapel, and into 
which they threw their whole souls, for all of the so called 



IVAJ? EXPERIENCES. 43 

"classical music" which I have since heard rendered by 
grand organ and artistic quartette on two continents. 

One Sabbath while we were in Suffolk, a special service 
for the soldiers who were on duty there was held in one of 
the churches, the chaplains of the various regiments offi- 
ciating. The house was filled to its utmost capacity, — the 
galleries, the aisles, the pulpit steps and the vestibule, — 
while many were unable to find even standing room. At 
the close of the sermon, officers and men knelt together at 
the same altar, their confessions and supplications ascend- 
ing to a common Father, and, irrespective of distinctive 
creed or belief, partook of the Lord's Supper, realizing as 
never before the truth that " God is no respecter of per- 
sons ;" and to one at least of that company of reverent 
worshipers, the Master's words, ''This do in remembrance 
of Me," had a deeper significance than ever before. 

Religious services were also held at the Convalescent 
Camp, for there were some faithful Christian men even 
there who did not forget their religious vows when the for- 
tunes of war called them away from their homes and accus- 
tomed places of worship. At one of the evening meetings 
in the large tent, which was filled to its utmost limits, an 



44 A I? AW RECRUIT'S 

invitation was given to those present who were striving, as 
" soldiers of the cross," to render faithful service to the 
Captain of their salvation, to raise the right hand. In 
response to the request, a large number of hands were 
raised. It occurred, however, to the leader of the meeting 
that some were there whose right arms had been shot off, 
and to such he gave opportunity to raise the left hand — 
and there were quite a number raised. But the most 
affecting sight was when a few men who had lost both 
arms in battle, and had only stumps remaining, rose to 
their feet and gave evidence of their loyalty to their Lord 
and Master. Such men could well sing at the close of the 
service : 

"God of all nations! sovereign Lord, 
In Thj dread name we draw the sword ; 
We lift the starry flag on high, 
That fills with light our stormy sky. 

" From treason's rent, from murder's stain, 
Guard Thou its folds till peace shall reign, 
Till fort and field, till shore and sea, 
Join our loud anthem, Praise to Thee !" 

I used to be greatly amused at times at the kind of litera- 



WAJ^ EXPERIENCES. 45 

ture which reached us when in camp from kind friends at 
home who were soHcitous concerning our moral welfare. 
Sometimes it was very evident that a book or tract smug- 
gled itself into the package sent which had never been 
"passed upon" by any member of the Christian Commis- 
sion. Just think of placing a cook-book in the hands of a 
man who had been living for months on hard-tack and salt 
junk, with no prospect of a change in diet for months to 
come! 

I am reminded, in this connection, of an incident which 
occurred in one of the hospitals in Washington. A kind- 
hearted Christian lady passed through the wards one day 
distributing religious tracts. She placed one in the hands 
of a young soldier who was occupying one of the numerous 
cots. As she turned away from him on her mission of 
love, she heard him laugh. The good woman's feelings 
were hurt, and retracing her steps she mildly rebuked him 
for his seeming rudeness and ingratitude. He begged her 
pardon and assured her that no discourtesy was intended, 
and remarked that he was amused by the inappropriateness 
of the title of the tract she had given him, " The Sin of 
Dancing," when both of his legs had been shot off. 



Chapter VI I. 

In common with soldiers generally, the menu of our 
company was somewhat Hmited in variety, and the dishes 
served did not materially differ from day to day. Sunday, 
however, was an exception to this general rule when we 
were in camp. In accordance with the time-honored New 
England custom, on Sunday morning we had our *' baked 
beans." If we did not always remember to keep the Sab- 
bath day holy, we certainly never forgot that it was the day 
for baked beans ; and I sometimes thought that the appear- 
ance of that article of food on Sunday morning served us 
better than a Church calendar or the "Old Farmer's 
Almanac " could have done as a reminder how the day 
should be spent. 

Our cook had a novel way of cooking or baking beans. 
He soaked them in the usual style, parboiled them in a 
large kettle, and then put them in a deep, iron mess- 
pan, generous slices of pork being placed on top of the 
beans. A hole was then made in the ground a foot or two 
feet deep and the bottom well filled with live coals, and on 



WAR EXPERIENCES. 47 

top of the coals was placed the iron mess-pan with its 
savory contents. Upon the cover of the pan was then 
placed more live coals, and the whole covered with turf 
well tamped down. This was done on Saturday afternoon, 
and on Sunday morning the beans came out of their 
improvised oven piping hot and in no wise inferior to those 
which furnished the staple article of the Sunday morning 
meal in so many New England homes. 

Burns tells us that '' the well-laid schemes of mice and 
men gang aft agley." On one occasion it occurred that 
we encamped one Saturday afternoon on an old battle- 
field, and as it was known that we were to remain there 
over Sunday, our cook began the usual preliminary work 
whereby he was to furnish the company with baked beans 
on the following morning. It so happened that at the spot 
where the hole was dug in the ground an unexploded shell 
was buried a little farther down, and after the live coals 
and the bean pot had been deposited in the earth long 
enough to form a mutual acquaintance and become warm 
friends a loud explosion was heard, and immediately the 
beans took an upward tendency and the air was completely 
filled with them, confirming the assertion of Artemas 



48 A RAW RECRUIT'S 

Ward that the '* festive bean, when baked, is a very lively 
fruit'' 

The spring of 1863 was particularly favorable to the 
development of typhoid fever, and a good many men in 
our regiment were in the hospital with that disease. The 
surgeon ordered a gill of whiskey to be served to every 
man daily, and as an inducement for him to " put it where 
it would do the most good" — at least in the surgeon's 
opinion — he was told that he would not be excused from 
duty if reported on the sick list. The whiskey was usually 
taken by the men and put into their canteens with the 
water, but in very many cases it did not take such a round- 
about way in reaching its destination. In my "■ mess " 
was a good, orthodox, prohibitionist deacon, a man whose 
example I was told before leaving home that I could con- 
sistently follow in all things — especially in spiritual things. 
One day he remarked to me that he had observed that I 
did not take my ration of whiskey when it was dealt out. 
I told him that I had not felt the need of it. He replied 
that he was very much afraid of the typhoid fever, and had 
no scruples in regard to the taking of a little whiskey as a 
precautionary measure, and if I was going to continue to 



IVAR EXPERIENCES. 49 

refuse to take my ration of it, he wished I would let it be 
poured into my canteen, and he would turn it into his own 
when we got back to our quarters; — ** only be careful," 
said he, " that there is no water in your canteen." After 
that I allowed the whiskey to be poured into my canteen ; 
but the good deacon's argument as to its being a prevent- 
ive for typhoid fever was so convincing that I did not allow 
it to be transferred to his. 

As is w^ell known, a wide and almost impassable gulf of 
difference exists between the officers and the rank and file 
in the regular army. But I had not been long in the vol- 
unteer service before I discovered that considerable differ- 
ence existed even there between the private soldier and 
the officer. To illustrate. While in Suffolk there hap- 
pened to be an "r" in the month. Walking along the 
principal street one day, I espied in the window of a res- 
taurant a card, upon which was printed or painted in letters 
of large dimensions these two words : " Steamed Oysters.'' 
Visions of Pawtucket and Providence river bivalves imme- 
diately came up before me, and I then and there resolved 
to have a good square meal of ** steamed oysters," even 
though it should pecuniarily impoverish me. So, entering 
4 



50 WAIi EXPERIENCES. 

the restaurant, I seated myself upon one of the unoccupied 
high stools at the oyster bar. And here I will remark 
that I could not have felt the importance of my elevated 
position any more if my blouse had been covered with 
shoulder-straps. Presently the proprietor of the establish- 
ment presented himself, and eyeing me with an air of 
indifference almost amounting to contempt, he asked me 
what I wanted. I replied, "Steamed oysters." I confess 
I was somewhat surprised and considerably " down in the 
mouth " when he informed me that he couldn't sell steamed 
oysters to a private soldier. My suggestion that he might 
overcome the difficulty by giving them to me, failed to 
secure the much-coveted bivalves, and I retired from the 
restaurant a sadder but wiser man than when I entered it. 
As I remarked at the outset, there was considerable 
difference between the private soldier and the officer even 
in the volunteer service ; and this was, as I have shown, 
particularly true as to which one should eat steamed 
oysters. But the line had to be drawn somewhere, I sup- 
pose, and so at Suffolk they drew it at steamed oysters, 
and, unfortunately for the man who was serving his country 
at thirteen dollars a month, he ''got left." 



Chapter VIII. 

While the Eleventh regiment was in service only nine 
months, and was never in action as a full regiment, yet it 
lost in that time two colonels. A certain fatality appeared 
to await those who were sent to take command of the regi- 
ment during the early part of its term of service. It 
seemed at one time as if the regiment was raised for the 
sole purpose of giving those who were to become colonels 
of other Rhode Island regiments an opportunity to perfect 
themselves in battalion drill and other military movements 
before assuming command elsewhere — a sort of stepping- 
stone, as it were, to something which was considered more 
desirable. There was, for instance, Colonel Edwin Metcalf, 
who went out with us and who left us to take command 
of the Third Rhode Island. Then there was Colonel 
Horatio Rogers, who came to us from the Third regiment 
and remained less than two weeks, leaving us to take com- 
mand of the Second Rhode Island. The next to put in 
an appearance was Colonel George E. Church, who had 
previously served as lieutenant-colonel of the Seventh 



52 A RAW RECRUIT'S 

Rhode Island. He remained with us until the expiration 
of our term of enlistment. 

It is not within the province of a private soldier — more 
especially a "raw recruit " — to criticise his superiors, and 
consequently I will not attempt it, notwithstanding this 
is the "• piping time of peace," and all fear of the guard- 
house has forever vanished. I will say, however, that all 
of the officers named had their peculiarities, and that our 
lieutenant-colonel was peculiarly peculiar ; and yet I believe 
him to have been every inch a soldier — at any rate, there 
was no such word as fear in his dictionary. He was in 
command when the regiment came the nearest to being in 
an engagement, and I fancy I see him now, mounted on 
his horse and riding at the head of the column, wearing a 
moth-eaten blouse and an exceedingly dilapidated straw 
hat, with a very black '' T. D. " clay pipe stuck in his 
mouth, the bowl downwards. He looked more like the 
** cowboy" of modern times than the pictures of military 
heroes which I used to see in my school-books when a boy. 
This was our lieutenant-colonel — John Talbot Pitman. 
He had good "■ staying qualities." He never threw up his 
commission, nor did he die. He remained with us to the 



WAIi! EXPEDIENCES. 53 

last, and rose considerably in the estimation of the men 
after his appearance at the head of the regiment at the time 
I have just mentioned. Men everywhere — especially sol- 
diers — admire pluck. Our lieutenant-colonel had pluck, 
even though at times his heart seemed somewhat lacking 
in tenderness. He never winked at any breach of disci- 
pline on the part of an officer or a private while he was in 
command of the regiment. If at times he appeared to 
have too little consideration for his men, he never failed to 
exact the fullest measure of consideration for them from 
all others. 

Colonel Metcalf, as I have stated, came to us first, and 
was the first to leave us. Universal regret on the part 
of officers and men was felt when he took his departure 
for Hilton Head. 

Colonel Rogers did not remain with us long enough for 
us to learn to like him or dislike him. He came to us 
**sp'ilin' for a fight," his heart's desire all the time he was 
with us was to fight, and when he found that he couldn't 
fight the rebels with us, he began to fight the War Depart- 
ment for a "change of base;" and in order to have peace 
within our own borders, and in response to a very general 



54 A RAW RECRUIT'S 

demand on the part of the loyal North for a vigorous 
prosecution of the war, coupled with a declaration on the 
part of certain northern newspapers that no further delay 
in pushing "On to Richmond " would be tolerated without 
a satisfactory reason being given therefor, the authorities 
at Washington compromised matters by sending the plucky 
colonel to the Second Rhode Island regiment, where 
he " honored his regiment, his State and himself by his 
gallant deeds." It is, however, but simple justice to the 
Eleventh regiment to say that the men were hopeful that 
Colonel Rogers' vigorous and persistent efforts with the 
War Department to relieve them from the disagreeable 
duty which they were performing at the Convalescent 
Camp would be crowned with success. Service in the field 
was coveted. 

Colonel Rogers was a strict disciplinarian. The surgeon 
of the regiment was a great lover of horses. It was said 
of him, before he entered the service, that if he was sent 
for in a case of expected immediate death, and he had an 
opportunity while on the road to trade a good horse for a 
better one, he would always let his patient take the 
chances. — I do not wish to be considered as authority for 



WAH EXPERIENCES. 55 

the truthfulness of this assertion. — One Sunday morning 
our company was ordered to report in front of the colonel's 
*' markee " for inspection. While the inspection was going 
on, the colonel stood in front of us, and just a little to his 
left the surgeon and quartermaster, it being just before 
divine service, were driving a horse trade. Naturally 
enough this attracted the attention of the men, and it 
being noticed by Colonel Rogers, he exclaimed in that 
melodious tone of voice so characteristic of him : " Eyes 
to the front ; yoti want ordered down Jiere to inspect the 
quartermaster s department f Colonel Rogers was, indeed, 
peculiar. 

In an excellent paper which was read by Captain Charles 
H. Parkhurst, of Company C, at a recent reunion of the 
Eleventh regiment, he thus contrasted Colonel Metcalf 
and Colonel Rogers : 

"Colonel Metcalf, as a rule, commanded without saying 
anything about it. When Colonel Rogers commanded he 
couldn't help saying something about it. No one seeing 
Colonel Metcalf off duty, or un-uniformed, would have sus- 
pected that he had any command, while the most casual ob- 
server looking at Colonel Rogers, even when asleep, would 



56 WAR EXPERIENCES. 

instinctively know that even then the colonel, at least, 
thought that he was in the exercise of authority." 

Our last commanding officer, Colonel Church, was a thor- 
ough soldier and, like Colonel Rogers, whom he succeeded, 
a strict disciplinarian. He was, apparently, a favorite with 
the officers of the regiment, but his ways smacked too 
much of the regular army to have ever made him popular 
with volunteer soldiers. It is, however, due Colonel Church 
to say that while under his command the regiment attained 
a high degree of proficiency in all that characterizes good 
soldiership, and won for itself much praise from those who 
were even superior in rank to its colonel. 

Speaking of the peculiarities of Colonel Church, for he 
had them too, perhaps nothing created a greater dislike 
for him on the part of his men than the severity of his 
discipline in regard to very small matters. To illustrate : 
The sending of a man to the guard-house because in 
his exasperation he so far forgot himself as to raise his 
hand to brush a fly off of his nose when on dress parade, 
was not relished. It might have done for a holiday, but 
not in time of war. At any rate, that is the way the boys 
looked at it. 



Chapter IX. 

Suffolk was our last regular encampment. From there 
we went to Yorktown, expecting to take transportation 
home, as our term of service had nearly expired. After 
remaining there a few days we were, very much to our sur- 
prise, ordered up the peninsula. Somebody evidently made 
a mistake in his reckoning, for when we arrived at Wil- 
liamsburg, only twelve miles distant from Yorktown, we 
were ordered back, an order which was not reluctantly 
obeyed, although had there been urgent need for the regi- 
ment's services for a longer period, I feel sure that they 
would have been cheerfully rendered. 

Upon our return to Yorktown we once more pitched our 
shelter (or "dog") tents, and made ourselves as comforta- 
ble as we could until transportation was furnished. Finally 
we embarked on the steamer "John Rice," and after a 
three days' sail arrived in Providence on the afternoon of 
the sixth of July, 1863, just nine months to a day from 
the time we left Rhode Island. 

The reception of the regiment by the patriotic citizens 



58 A I^AW RECRUIT'S 

of Providence was as generous as it was hospitable. The 
Pawtucket companies (B and F) reached home just before 
six o'clock, and were welcomed with the firing of can- 
non, the ringing of bells, and other demonstrations of 
respect and kindness. After the warm greetings at the 
railroad station by friends, the band meanwhile vigorously 
playing "When Johnny Comes Marching Home," and 
other popular airs, a line was formed, (the escort compris- 
ing the Home Guard and officers of the Light Guard,) and 
moved through the principal streets, including a march to 
Central Falls and back. It was a proud day for the " raw 
recruit " and his comrades. In marching through the 
streets of both places, cheers and the waving of hand- 
kerchiefs testified the delight of the multitude at our safe 
return. On arriving at the old Armory Hall in Pawtucket, 
where, nine or ten months previously, so many of us had 
enlisted, and which never looked so well to us before, a 
bountiful collation was partaken of, and then, with good 
judgment on the part of somebody, the companies were 
dismissed without being compelled to listen to speeches 
from those who, for "prudential reasons," remained at 
home. 



IVAB EXPERIENCES, 59 

The second death in Company B occurred on the evening 
of the first day out from Yorktown. Frank M. Bliss, the 
" drummer boy " of the company, had been sick several 
days with typhoid fever in the hospital at Yorktown, and 
his recovery was considered hopeless when he was carried 
on board the steamer by his comrades. The deceased 
was a son of Captain Albert Bliss, of Pawtucket, and a 
young man of excellent qualities. He was very anxious 
to serve his country in some capacity, and being only 
eighteen years of age, and not physically able to carry the 
load of an infantry soldier he enlisted as a drummer, and did 
good service in that capacity. His remains were tenderly 
borne by a detail of his comrades from the steamer to the 
home of his afflicted parents, and what in so many other 
homes was a day of great joy on account of the return of 
loved ones, in theirs was a day of deepest sorrow, for 
the loved son and brother whose return had been so long 
joyously anticipated came not. 

The regiment was paid off and "mustered out " of ser- 
vice in Providence on the thirteenth day of July, 1863. It 
left Rhode Island a little more than one thousand strons:. 
It came back numbering eight hundred and thirty-eight 



60 WAR EXPERIENCES. 

enlisted men and thirty-eight commissioned officers. Dur- 
ing its absence it lost sixty men by discharge, and seven 
others by death. Fifty-five of its members were left 
behind in various hospitals, and twenty-five sick men 
were brought home on the steamer. It is a remarkable 
fact in the history of the regiment that not one man was 
killed in an engagement with the enemy during its entire 
nine months' campaign. It is doubtful whether this has 
its parallel in any other regiment which entered the ser- 
vice during the civil war. 

But there were many other things which the soldier had 
to do besides fighting. One thing all had to do, namely, 
obey orders, and when that was done, the soldier had done 
all that was required of him, all that he promised to do 
when he enlisted. The entire regiment never appeared in 
line once after we left Providence, so many of the men 
being detailed for various kinds of service, such as hospital 
nurses, ambulance drivers, wagoners, and so forth. But, 
comrades, whatever the service performed by our regiment, 
it should be esteemed honor and distinction enough for any 
one of us to have it said of him, '' This is the country which 
he helped to save.'' 



Chapter X. 

I HAVE thus imperfectly, and to myself at least very 
unsatisfactorily, sketched the nine mor^ths' war experiences 
of a **raw recruit" of the Eleventh Rhode Island regi- 
ment. Whatever has been said, if anything, which shall 
provoke criticism, be assured that " naught has been set 
down in malice." 

As was said by one whose words I have already quoted, 
''the men composing the Eleventh regiment compared 
favorably with those of other regiments which went from 
Rhode Island." Some theories, however, in regard to 
what constitutes the best material for soldiers were upset 
by the results of our nine months' campaign. In my own 
company, for instance, the majority of the men were 
recruited from the professions and the counting-room. 
But before leaving home it was deemed best by the offi- 
cers to enlist a few men upon whom they could rely to do 
the fighting in the event that the classes to whom I have 
referred should show the "white feather" in the hour 
of trial. Consequently a few "roughs," or "toughs," or 



62 A RAW RECRUIT'S 

"bruisers," or "scalawags," were introduced into the com- 
pany. With what result ? Just what every intelligent 
man should have known at the outset. They were abso- 
lutely good for nothing when we were in camp but to 
furnish the company's quota for the guard-house, and when 
an emergency required their services they were either 
drunk or in the hospital by reason of their excesses. They 
were, indeed, " invincible in peace and invisible in war." 
The best men at home proved the most serviceable in the 
field. And this I believe to be true not only of our own 
company and regiment, but of all the troops who entered 
the service of the country. 

All soldiers have a regimental pride and affection. It 
would sound equally as strange to hear a man not speak 
well of his mother, as to hear a soldier not speak well of 
his regiment. The rebel General Hill tells of an Irish sol- 
dier belonging to a New Orleans regiment whom he found 
after the second day's battle at Gettysburg lying alone in 
the woods, his head partly supported by a tree. He was 
shockingly injured. General Hill said to him : "My poor 
fellow, you are badly hurt. What regiment do you belong 
to?" He replied: "The Fifth Confederit, sir; and a 



WAI? EXPERIENCES. 63 

dommed good regiment it is." The answer, though almost 
ludicrous, well illustrates a soldier's pride in his regiment. 
That the Eleventh did not accomplish all that the men 
composing it expected it would when it left Rhode Island 
is admitted. But that it did its full duty in the obedience 
of every order, who will deny > As another has so well 
and truthfully said in regard to the regiment, " it had not 
the ordering of its own destiny. It went where it was 
ordered to go, and performed the duty to which it was 
assigned, and left no stain to sully the fair fame and honor 
of the State or country." While it is true that to some 
regiments better opportunities were furnished to achieve 
distinction and renown than to others, there is no reason 
to suppose that the Eleventh Rhode Island would not have 
done equally as well under the same circumstances. 

I am not insensible to the fact that during the war, and 
for some time after it was ended, a feeling was entertained 
by some of the men who first went out in the three years' 
regiments that the patriotism of the nine months' men was 
stimulated by the bounties which were offered. In Rhode 
Island, so far as my knowledge extends, the largest bounty 
paid any one person was one hundred and fifty dollars. 



64 WAIi EXPERIENCES. 

Would any old soldier, especially if he has a family or 
others dependent upon him, consider the sum mentioned 
compensation in any adequate sense to induce him again 
to become a target for rebel bullets ? It cannot be denied 
that there were some men — unworthy the name of soldiers 
— who were induced by the offers of bounty money to 
enlist and take the chances of ** jumping" the bounty, or 
of desertion, but by far the larger proportion of those who 
enlisted after the bounties were offered, did so because they 
were then enabled to leave those who were dependent 
upon them for their daily bread in such a condition as to 
keep the wolf of starvation from the door in their absence. 
Every man who, from love of his country, left home and 
friends to defend the honor of the old flag in the hour of its 
assailment by traitorous hands was a true patriot and de^ 
serves well of his fellow-countrymen, and whether he served 
for a longer or a shorter period, or whether his service was 
performed in the army or in the navy, on land or on sea, 
he has, by the faithful discharge of his duty, honored the 
State which he represented far more than it can ever honor 
him, and of him a grateful and appreciative people will unite 
in saying," Well done, good and faithful servant." 



